Exhausted Cheetah

[Steve Kaluski]

Taken in Samburu, Kenya, after a kill, this Cheetah took time to draw breathe before feeding quickly.

Yes Ken, this is from the calender :)

Steve
MKIII 500f/4 f/8.0 1/320 ISO 400 mid afternoon (bean bag on bonnet)

[Harshad Barve]

Looks like you were on some mission for few days

Lovely image , I liked the exhausted look on face , compo works for me , nice details and spot on techs
TFS

ps ,BTW I hope you were not on mission for cubs ;):eek:

[Marc Mol]

A beautie Steve, nice and sharp, great lighting on that honey coloured eye, exhaustive/open mouth gaze, good detail on the fur with a top BG. Very nicely done.
TFS

[D. Robert Franz]

Very nice potrait here Steve. I may have even opened up a bit more to blur the BG. Light looks good for mid afternoon.....

[Todd Frost]

Nice portrait of this beautiful cat. Agree with Dale and would have shoot wide open to blur bg. Colors and detail are great. Haven't seen you here for a while, nice to have you back. TFS
Todd

[Morkel Erasmus]

great cheetah portrait Steve. where you in Kenya just now?
stunning result for the time of day...

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I like the profile of the cheetah. I think cropping from the bottom till the curve ends ie. to remove the hint of legs, will further strengthen the image. Any selective sharpening done to the face portio in the image? Thanks for sharing. Look forward to more.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Paul Taylor]

I have nothing to say about this except that I like it very much and that is a very attractive cheetah.

Oh... one thing. If you obsess enough, there is a kind of phantom "leg" created by the white in the background. My work monitor is far from ideal, but I can't work out what could be the cause. Anyway, if it is not a phantom of my monitor, maybe break up it's lines with a bit of cloning?

And what were you doing on the bonnet?

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Guys, I will try to answer questions raised in the above replies as best I can. :)

-Harshad, sadly not working on cubs, but yes, I have started two projects which may or may not come off. It's taken about a week to study & watch, but both subjects are extremely skittish, plus they are in an area where the public can walk straight through this private area, so it is causing some issues and one may need to be shot via a remote due to it's location.

Marc, Dale, Todd, appreciate the comments, however I agree that perhaps f5.6 might have been better, but not sure that with the DOF I might have got everything 'pin sharp'.

Morkel, with regret no, still in the UK, but this project has a round trip of over 400 miles so keeping busy.

Sabyasachi, a little USM 25, 1.3, 1, but did a second pass after converting for the web, very minimal. Ironically the crop here is not the one in my calender and your suggestion is how it is there so 'slap wrist' for me :D

Paul, I think I understand what you mean and the 'phantom leg' is just the habitat brush and therefore unless it really worried me I am happy to leave as shot. FYI I was sitting in the passenger seat, in the FRONT, my lens resting on the beanbag on the bonnet as I was shooting straight ahead.

Appreciate your time guys and hope to get back to commenting soon.:)

Steve ;)

[Ken Watkins]

Hi Steve,

Back online, it says it is a Leopard on the calendar, I thought not :p

I like the larger crop.

[Steve Kaluski]

Yes, last minute change, guess you didn't understand the note I had put in with it. Just proves we are all human.

Steve

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Steve, super comp, and I like the HA here. I like the effect of the grasses in the BG, and overall, the cheetah pops very well.

[Austin Thomas]

Very nice portrait Steve,

Great eye colour and good details in the shadow areas for mid afternoon in Kenya.

I agree with a touch off the bottom.

tfs

Austin

[Nate Chappell]

A great portrait Steve, I like the head turned a bit toward you but not looking at you. Lovely light, I'd take a touch off the bottom here.:cool: